Amazon.com bestseller Secrets to Winning a Scholarship, for sharing this presentation with us today.

Transcription

1 During this session, we will provide best practices and practical tips for helping students find and win scholarships and advice on how to mentor students as they navigate the application process. Special thanks to Mark Kantrowitz, a nationally-recognized expert on student financial aid and scholarships, Publisher of Edvisors Network, and author of the 1

2 Amazon.com bestseller Secrets to Winning a Scholarship, for sharing this presentation with us today. 1

3 1a. Every dollar they win is about a dollar less they ll have to borrow. 1d. Scholarships enable choice, so students can afford to enroll at a higher quality or better fit college despite the higher cost. 2

4 1a/b. Families have a tendency to overestimate their student s chances of winning a scholarship. 3. Students with an A average are twice as likely as students with a B average. 4. Students with an above average SAT (>= 1,000) or ACT (>= 21) are twice as likely to win scholarships. 3

5 1a. Teachers who announce a scholarship to an entire class of students are not as effective in getting students to apply as teachers who take individual students aside and personally tell them that they should apply for a specific scholarship. 2. Announce winners of major awards at graduation or hold an annual reception to honor the school's winners and finalists. 4

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7 1.This will also help you track recipients of less prestigious scholarships. 2.The idea is to help motivate students to apply for scholarships by ensuring that they receive some financial benefit from the scholarships. 6

8 1. Send a mailing to local businesses encouraging them to create new scholarships 2. If list outside scholarships, screen them carefully to filter out scams, such as scholarships that charge any kind of a fee. List about 50 to 100 scholarships that you endorse. 3. Colleges should perform outreach to students at local feeder schools to encourage students to consider applying for scholarships earlier 7

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10 1a. It is very difficult for scholarship sponsors to choose between two extremely talented finalists for a scholarship, so the decision can often be arbitrary. Often there is no wrong choice for a winner. Skill gets you selected as a finalist, but the final choice of who wins may be purely random. So applying to more scholarships (for which you are qualified) will increase your chances of winning a scholarship. 1c. Apply to every award for which eligible. Some students don t like small awards or essay competitions, but these are easier to win, the money adds up and they help you win bigger scholarships. It gets easier after the first half dozen scholarships, since you can start reusing essays 1d. One in four students never applies for financial aid 9

11 1b. Example of cancer scholarships leading to inclusion of optional question about a history of pediatric cancer. 10

12 2. Proofreading the essays for spelling and grammar can make a big difference. Scholarship providers form an impression through the student s writing. Too many typos make the writer look uneducated. Proofread a printed version of the essay, so it looks visually different. This makes it easier to spot mistakes, since it will be less familiar. Do not rely on the built in spelling and grammar checkers. Try reading the essay out loud; any disfluencies will be a sign of problems that should be fixed. 6. Use a calendar and checklist to get organized 11

13 4. Review at least the first ten pages of results. 5. Some scholarship providers require finalists to friend them. Questionable material may also be made public by your friends. Delete questionable posts on your Facebook wall as well as inappropriate pictures and videos, especially anything offensive or illegal. Delete offensive tweets. 6. Do not use offensive or sexually suggestive addresses like One student used a Facebook profile picture of a toilet. 12

14 Many of these topics are also relevant to college admissions and job placement. Providing free food (pizza) helps increase attendance at a workshop. 5. Videotape performance and review videotape with them. It will show students how other people see them. 13

15 1.Must keep the essay in the student s own voice. 3. Look at the sponsor web site. 14

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17 4. Common sense is unfortunately not all that common. Use the bathroom before leaving for the interview. Brush teeth. Wear deodorant. Floss. 5. Often students forget the interviewer s name within the first few minutes of the interview. Asking how to spell the name is a good trick, but it can backfire if the interviewer has a common name, like S M I T H. Asking for a copy of the interviewer s business card can help, especially since it gives you an address for sending a thank you letter. But respect the business card. Do not use it to pick your teeth or clean under your fingernails. 16

18 Telephone and webcam interviews are becoming more common than face to face interviews. 2. The voice quality on a corded phone is much clearer than on a cordless phone, cell phone or Skype connection. 3. Clean up the outgoing message on your voic . 17

19 Share these tips with faculty and staff who write letters of recommendation. Keep the list of tips short, to no more than one page. 3. A member of the selection committee might use these details to champion your student. 4. If this student is among the best in your career, say so. They want recommendations to evaluate the candidate, not merely recite a series of facts about the candidate. 6. If letter is too short, it will not impress the selection committee. But keep the most important information near the beginning of the letter, since they may not read the full letter. 18

20 1d. Unclaimed aid myth. A study by the National Institute of Work and Learning estimated that potentially $7 billion was available from employers in the form of employer tuition assistance, but only about $300 million to $400 million was being used each year. $7B minus $300M to $400M, yields $6.6B. This myth is more than 30 years old, has nothing to do with scholarships, and is an estimate, not a tabulation. The only scholarships that go unclaimed are scholarships that can t be claimed. For example, the Zolp scholarship at Loyola University in Chicago is for a student with a last name of ZOLP. The name must appear on both the birth certificate and the christening certificate. Most years they have one or two students, but some years they have none. You cannot change your name to qualify. 2c. Revisit all of the links from your site at least once a year. There are some school sites that still mention onetime promotional scholarships from a decade ago. 19

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22 2. Scholarships are part of the plan for paying for college, but not the entire plan. 3. For example, changes in the number of students in college can have a big impact on aid eligibility. 21